Jacksonville students fight against censorship during Friday night rally

JAKSONVILLE, Fla — Earlier today, there was a statewide walkout at schools and colleges to protest censorship. Tonight, local leaders held a rally at A. Philip Randolph Park to protest state lawmakers.

This rally was one of four across the state.

Several students said they are proud to be a part of a movement where they are pushing for change in their education.

At the rally, state representative, Angie Nixon began a chant, “When education is under attack, what do we do?” To which the audience responded with, “Stand up, fight back.”

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Nixon, along with other community leaders showed up at tonight’s rally standing in solidarity with the youth.

“They claim to hate cancel culture, but they are the ones that are actually trying to cancel cultures,” Nixon says about the Republicans in Tallahassee. She adds, talking to students, “You aren’t the leaders of tomorrow, you are the leaders of today.”

“I think we all deserve a fair education, getting to learn everything that we’re supposed to learn and banning books just because they make somebody uncomfortable isn’t fair,” Lavilla School of the Arts eight grader, Lydia Jones said.

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Dozens came out to rally against Governor DeSantis’s push to ban AP African American Studies, and to protest the recent expansion to the parental rights in education law named the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law by critics.

“It’s not okay that we’re bringing other people down because of how they identify or who they love,” Lavilla School of the Arts sixth grader Laiken Holland said.

This rally also comes a few days after Florida Board of Education’s decision banned classroom discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades.

“I think we are all human and we should all be treated equally,” Lavilla School of the Arts sixth grader, Noah Jones said.

All these students come from Lavilla School of the Arts. They participated in their own version of a protest at school today, by wearing shirts or flags that represent who they are – from nationality to sexuality.

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“We are the future, we are the ones who are going to have to end up growing up in this world, so I feel like we should have some say in how we want to live and how we want to create it,” Lavilla School of the Arts eight grader Nyah McLaughlin said.

A ‘Walkout 2 Learn’ protest today saw students leave more than 300 campuses in Florida.

Substitute teacher, Jackson Gilpin, said he will stand up for kid’s rights and education in and out of the classroom – especially when it comes to diversity and history.

“In order to not repeat the mistakes of the past, we have to know what happened in the past,” Gilpin said.

At the rally, attendees had the opportunity to sign the ‘Walkout 2 Learn’ pledge and enroll in a virtual African American history course.

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